Barcelona will enter the election campaign in a few days ahead of the elections to be held on March 15. Joan Laporta will step down next week to run for re-election, in which he is the clear favorite. So far, there are three pre-candidates who have expressed their intention to run: Victor Font (Laporta’s main rival, who finished second in the previous election), Xavi Vilajoana and Marc Ciria.
There is a key figure in Barcelona who can have a great influence in this whole process and that is Leo Messi. A few days ago, the former Barcelona player made an unexpected appearance at the Spotify Camp Nou to take a look at the remodeling of the stadium. The photos he himself posted on social media had a huge impact and raised the debate about what role the Argentine will play in these elections.
Messi’s power
The Argentine would attract many votes if he were to speak out for one of the candidates. However, this is not going to happen. Messi, at the moment, has no intention of getting involved in this process. His idea is to stay completely out of it, without supporting anyone.
The World Cup
Messi is currently playing in the United States with his team, Inter Miami. And, above all, he is preparing for the next World Cup, which will be held in the country where he is now playing. It is a key event for the player, as Argentina is defending the title and it is very likely to be his last World Cup.
Return to Barcelona
In light of this, he does not want to get involved in Barcelona’s elections. Messi intends to return to the club in the future, as he has said in some interviews. This is his future plan, although at the moment it is not very clear in what capacity he will return. He is fully committed to returning, but this will not happen during these elections.
Previous elections
In the previous elections, held in 2021, although he did not speak publicly, at that time he was a player and captain of the Blaugrana team and, in some way, his support was for Joan Laporta because of the relationship they had had in the first stage of the latter as president. During the campaign, the current president assured that he had the formula to renew the Argentine, but when push came to shove, this did not happen.
Broken relationships
From that moment on, the distance between Laporta and Messi was total. The player felt cheated by the president and they broke off the relationship they had. The failed attempt to bring him back two years later only made the situation worse. Since then, the president has tried to approach the player, but he has always avoided him.
Despite the fact that he does not get along with Laporta, Messi does not want to get involved in this electoral process by supporting anyone. He will wait to see how it ends and, from that moment on, and once the World Cup is over, he will begin to think about his return to Barcelona.
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